Infant Skull Fracture Lawsuit

Fact Checked

The purpose of an infant skull fracture lawsuit is to obtain justice and compensation if a baby was injured due to medical mistakes. In some instances, a fracture can happen without anyone to blame. In other cases, though, a healthcare provider’s negligent medical errors cause a newborn skull fracture.

Infant Skull Fractures: How They Happen

The newborn skull is different from the skull of an adult or older child. It is made up of plates held together by flexible sutures. The plates don’t solidify until the child is older so that the brain can grow in an expanding skull.

The flexibility of the infant skull also allows it to go through delivery, with sometimes extreme pressure and forces on it, and come out intact.

A newborn’s skull is also delicate and vulnerable to injury when something goes wrong during or shortly after childbirth. During childbirth, the primary cause of skull fractures is the use of instruments.

Doctors sometimes use forceps to grip and pull on an infant as it emerges or vacuum extractors to suction the infant out of the birth canal.

In either instance, a doctor might use the instrument forcefully enough to fracture the skull. After a child is born, mishandling a newborn can also lead to injury to the skull, such as dropping the baby.

Consequences of a Skull Fracture

Sometimes a skull fracture in an infant is minor and linear, meaning that it does not cause the plates of the skull to move. These linear fractures typically heal with time and do not cause lasting damage. Other types of fractures, or more severe linear fractures, can create real, serious harm.[1]

A depressed fracture, for instance, often causes hemorrhaging or bleeding on the brain. This puts pressure on the brain and can cause brain damage and even the infant’s death if not treated immediately.

If a baby suffers brain damage from a fracture, he may live with a disability for the rest of his life.

Brain damage at birth can cause developmental delays, cognitive impairments, seizure disorders, behavioral disorders, and even paralysis. The consequences of brain damage from a skull fracture may require lifelong care, treatment, and interventions.

Negligence and an Infant Skull Fracture Lawsuit

For parents who believe that their infant’s skull fracture could and should have been prevented, that it resulted from an error made by a medical caregiver, a lawsuit is a legal avenue to seek compensation and justice.

A medical error that causes a skull fracture can have lasting implications for a child and the family. There is the loss of a healthy life, the possibility that a parent will have to stay home from work, the costs of treatment and care, and emotional and physical pain and suffering.

An infant skull fracture lawsuit can help devastated parents get a sense of justice.

If you believe that your doctor caused the baby’s injury, you have the right to file a lawsuit. Doing so gives you a feeling of justice. It also puts pressure on those responsible for taking better care in the future. This, in turn, protects children yet to be born.

How to File an Infant Skull Fracture Lawsuit

To file a lawsuit is not necessarily straightforward, and there are many steps along the way that will be complicated. You don’t have to do it on your own, though. To begin with your lawsuit, first, find a good lawyer to take care of the legal details for you.

An experienced birth injury and medical malpractice lawyer will know what to do and will be able to tell you what you need to do, such as keeping medical records and recollecting what happened when your child was born.

Your lawyer will have the most critical responsibility of making a strong case that medical malpractice caused your child’s injury.

Your lawyer will collect evidence to show that the medical caregiver you entrusted with the care of your baby made an error in judgment and that the mistake led directly to your child’s injury and resulting disability.

What You Can Claim in a Skull Fracture Lawsuit

In addition to bringing the responsible parties to justice for medical errors, your case will also be a way for you to get compensation on behalf of your child.

Other parents have won millions for their children in birth injury cases, and you may be able to as well if you and your lawyer can make a strong case for medical malpractice.

Among the things that you can claim in a lawsuit is compensation to cover all current medical bills related to the skull fracture as well as future expected medical bills.

You can claim for the specialized care and treatment you expect your child to need and the expense of travel to get those services.

You can claim for lost wages if you or a spouse are forced to leave work to care for your child.

You can also claim for intangible costs like emotional pain and suffering or the loss of a normal life for your child. A lawsuit may be the most important thing you do for your child and his future care.

Infant Skull Fracture Lawsuit Leads to $10.3 Million Verdict

In 2016, a Texas mother won $10.3 million from a jury hearing her case and was convinced the doctor was to blame for the child’s skull fracture and death.

The doctor used forceps on the baby’s head, and the mother described hearing a pop as they broke her child’s skull.

Five days later, the baby died from the resulting complications. The mother also argued that she had pushed for a Cesarean section but that the doctor convinced her she didn’t need the procedure.[2]

If the doctor had taken the mother’s concerns seriously, and if he had performed the Cesarean section initially, her baby might still be alive.

If you believe that your child’s skull fracture resulted from poor medical judgment or an error, contact an experienced birth injury lawyer today.